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“As a technique indigenous to Korean art, the resulting surface ultimately reveals a beatific resonance of silent, glimmering beauty.” 

- Robert C. Morgan, Art Critic 

 

New York, NY-  Space 776 is pleased to present an exhibition of Seoul-based artist Rimm Chae at Space 776 New York on view from February 5 to 23, 2021.

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Working with traditionally precious materials such as lacquer and mother-of-pearl, which both date back to traditional times, I have felt that my work embodies both the past and present.

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With her experience of 20 years as a jewelry designer to the traditional art of lacquer, she started creating “sculptural paintings.” Previously, Chae’s work has taken the form of “sculptural paintings,” bringing both painting and sculpture together into one. However, more recently, she has started to take the opposite approach by deconstructing and separating these two genres in her art. While her previous work focused on the lacquer’s traditional smooth finish, some of her recent work focuses on color and texture. Although Chae’s work is based on traditional Korean lacquer paintings, the bold use of color and repetition of points and lines bring these paintings closer to Western art.

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While the traditional Najeonchilgi technique involves attaching the mother-of-pearl to the surface with a hot iron, her work pursues a unique form of beauty, created by setting the mother-of-pearls onto a lacquered canvas with silver prongs. Thus, each piece created is both flat and voluminous, traditional and contemporary, painting-like and sculptural all at the same time. By using mother-of-pearl and different precious stones such as traditional gemstones (such as coral, amber, jade, lapis lazuli, tiger’s eye), pearls, turquoise, her art represents the meeting point between painting and sculpture, conceptualism and realism.